"We are committed to making Prime Air available to customers
worldwide as soon as we are permitted to do so," wrote Paul
Misener, the company's vice president of global public policy.
"One day, seeing Amazon Prime Air will be as normal as seeing
mail trucks on the road today, resulting in enormous benefits for
consumers across the nation."

The request was made so the company could conduct more research
on its Amazon Prime Air vehicles. The program was unveiled by CEO
Jeff Bezos on CBS' 60 Minutes back in December. The
drones are expected to that can travel at more than 50 miles an
hour, carry up to five pounds and deliver 86 percent of products
available on the Amazon site.

Citing the FAA's Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, the
company is asking to be exempt from aspects of the current rules
that prevent them from testing the drones outdoors in the
US. To this point, Misener noted that as a "commercial
enterprise," the testing had been relegated indoors and in other
countries to this point, whereas "hobbyists"
and manufacturers of model aircraft have a bit more leeway
with outdoor R&D.

In the letter, Misener details the safety precautions the company
will take in Seattle, that they intend "to go far beyond those
that FAA has long-held provide a sufficient level of safety for
public model airplane fields – and only with sUAS."